Plan Would Support Local Farmers, Improve Nutrition in Prisons, Hospitals

The State Senate today approved legislation sponsored by Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Patty Ritchie that seeks to boost the amount of locally produced food sold to state prisons, hospitals and other facilities.

State Senator Patty Ritchie today announced that the new state budget restores cuts to key agriculture programs, while adding new funding and a new marketing initiative to help farmers grow.

Senator Ritchie, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, once again led efforts to stop funding cuts to key programs aimed at boosting productivity and strengthening the bottom lines of 36,000 family farmers who are at the center of New York’s leading industry.

Growing the state’s agriculture industry and helping New York’s family farms prosper is the goal of the “Grown in New York” plan, unveiled today by Senator Patty Ritchie, Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Senator Ritchie was joined at a Capitol news conference by other members of the committee, as well as leaders of the New York Farm Bureau to announce a plan to strengthen the state’s $5.2 billion agriculture industry by expanding markets for New York-grown products, improving the bottom lines of family farms, and investing in the future of farming.

State Senator Patty Ritchie hosted the first meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture Tuesday, and featured a presentation by representatives of the New York Farm Viability Institute, which sponsors agricultural research and other programs to help bolster farmers’ bottom lines.